Making Room for Myself

How do you make time for self-care?

I used to treat it like another item on my to-do list.

For years, I thought self-care meant doing something special, you know..

A spa day.

A long bath.

A weekend away.

All lovely things, certainly.

But sometimes self-care is much less glamorous.

Sometimes it’s saying no.

Sometimes it’s putting the phone down.

Sometimes it’s going for a walk with absolutely nowhere you need to be.

And sometimes it’s sitting quietly with a cup of coffee and refusing to feel guilty because you aren’t being productive.

I’ve learned that I don’t always need to do something to look after myself.

Sometimes I need to stop doing things.

Stop explaining.

Stop rushing.

Stop trying to solve everybody else’s problems.

Stop pretending I’m fine when I’m not.

And perhaps one of the most important things I’ve learned is that self-care isn’t selfish.

There’s a difference between caring about yourself and believing you’re the only person who matters.

One is healthy.

The other is just being a bit of a pillock.

I think we’re much better at making time for things we consider important when someone else needs them.

An appointment? We’ll keep it.

A meeting? We’ll be there.

A friend needs us? We’ll make the time.

But when we need an hour?

Suddenly we’re terribly busy.

Perhaps that’s the bit we need to change.

Not finding another hour in an already crowded day.

Simply deciding that some of the time we already have belongs to us.

So these days, my self-care might be something wonderfully ordinary.

A walk.

Music.

Writing.

A quiet cup of tea.

A conversation with someone who makes me laugh.

Or occasionally doing absolutely nothing and enjoying it enormously.

Because rest isn’t something we need to earn by exhausting ourselves first.

And we don’t have to wait until we’re running on fumes before we refill the tank.

Sometimes the kindest thing we can say to ourselves is simply:

“You can stop for a while.”

So that’s how I make time for self-care.

I don’t always make more time.

I try to make sure that some of the time I already have…

belongs to me.

And darling, that’s not wasted time.

That’s living.

Stay Fabulous,
Luce 💋